With improving 4G network coverage as well as 4G smartphone penetration, wireless data volumes should grow exponentially. Gartnerexpect smartphone penetration to increase from 21% in 2016 to 32% in 2018.

Smartphone penetration (as % of population) has increased from 3% in 2012 to 21% in 2016. With rising smartphone penetration, we have seen a surge in wireless data consumption, which increased in 2016 to 4.5x the 2012 level

Further, >90% of smartphone shipments are 4G-enabled. We expect adoption of 4G to drive a significant increase in data usage per data subscriber due to better bandwidth. As a result, expect wireless data volumes to grow to ~4x the 2016 level over the next two years. We saw a similar phenomenon in China as data usage per data subscriber rose in 2016 to 5.4x the 2013 level after the 4G launch in early 2014.